Bitter Water Prefecture (Part 1)

Aini patiently burned the corpses of the five mercenaries. He quelled his magic weapon and stored it back into his bag.

"Saleen, we cannot stay here for long. The town up ahead isn’t safe." He was afraid that Saleen was not aware of the situation in the Qin Empire and the surrounding duchies and explained patiently, "Even if the town has been destroyed by the black mage, if we meet with the army, we might be forced to fight with them. We need to avoid everyone."

Saleen did not dare stay for long after hearing that. He took the five horses from the mercenaries and the four of them went on their way.

Aini’s body was not in good condition. It was lucky that he had been well trained in horsemanship since he was young, or else he might not have held on for long. The group of them did not dare take the main road. After hiding about and travelling for almost five days, they neared the borders of the Phoenix Duchy.

There were only two roads from Phoenix to the Qin Empire. Looking at the city from afar, Aini stopped his horse.

He jumped down from his horse and walked over to Saleen. Taking out a badge, he passed it to him. Saleen took it in his hands and observed it. The badge was silver and felt heavy in his hands, but was smaller than his badge.

In the center of the badge was a lion totem, the symbol of the Clyde family. This silver symbol was only given to those who were blood descendants, and anyone with this silver badge could enter the core of the family and even become the next elder.

Even though Aini had lost his magic chords and had no foreseeable future, his blood line could not be erased and his family had not confiscated the badge.

Saleen was a little displeased. If Aini had taken out this badge earlier, the Baron might not have found it necessary to kill him.

Aini laughed and said to Saleen, "This badge is only a memento to me now. Once I become a death mage, the family will make a gold one for me. The badge has my alchemy imprint on it. Take it and go to Karen Prefecture. Everyone there knows my uncle’s name, Rance. He will give you some magic medicine once he sees the alchemy imprint on the badge."

Saleen furrowed his brows and jumped down from his horse. Holding Aini back, he asked, "With your body’s condition, why not follow us?"

"That won’t do. I have family in this city. I need to stay and prevent Baron Cook from returning to the Qin Empire. The three of you should ditch your horses and cross over the mountain range to avoid any trouble."

Saleen kept quiet for a while before he laughed, putting away the badge that Aini had given him and taking out a gemstone. The gemstone was crystal clear and shone under the sunlight. The black streaks inside the gemstone were like wisps of smog, making it seem as though the gemstone was lightly fluttering.

He forced the gemstone into Aini’s hands and patted his shoulders, saying, "Take care."

Aini was a little dumbfounded. Watching Saleen and the others leave, he grasped the perfect black crystal. Suddenly, a voice shouted in the direction that Saleen had left in, "Saleen, after becoming a grand mage, remember to find me…"

Saleen heard Aini shouting. Without turning back, he only waved to him.

If Aini had been older by another ten years, Saleen would never have gotten close to him. However, Aini’s skinny body and sickly face reminded him of his childhood. The two of them were so similar.

Crossing over ten mountains, Saleen and the others arrived at the Qin Empire. The town bordering with Phoenix was small, but the Qin Empire had stationed a large number of soldiers here. It was not that the emperor did not trust the grand duke of Phoenix, but these army corps had been left behind since the founding of the empire and their main purpose was to prevent the black mages from reviving.

This city was huge. Since leaving Sikeqinya, it was the first time that Saleen had seen such a majestic city gate.

Looking at it from afar, the city gate shone with a bronze purplish color. The top of it was laid with seven colored glass. Saleen was shocked, but there was a reason they had spent so much on it. Seven colored glass was an alchemy item, and laying the entire city gate with it would prevent any mage that was below the grade of a sorcerer from being able to use a magic lock.

The city wall was ten over meters high and had been built entirely with large green steel bricks. Under the setting sun, they shone brightly, To keep them from getting corroded, they were constantly being washed.

As they walked closer, Saleen could feel the intense pressure coming from the city walls. There was definitely a magic array within these castle walls. There were not any magic nuclei inlaid within them, or else they would have immediately activated the defense magic of Saleen’s mage robe. 

Being so grand in scale, even hundreds of thousands of black puppets would not have been able to do anything.

Saleen suddenly understood why the Qin Empire had dared to oppose the Holy See, and not allowed the Holy See to build any churches within its borders. Even pastors would not dare enter the empire.

The insides of the magic empire ran far too deep, and even a city was this terrifying.

It seemed like the disaster in the Phoenix Duchy had not spread to the empire, and the grand duke of Phoenix had the situation under control. The city here was still open, although there were more soldiers patrolling on top of the city wall.

If the grand duke of Phoenix had not asked for the emperor’s assistance, the Qin Empire would not have sent so many soldiers to the border.

At the city gate were soldiers on the lookout for people doing business, but it was fairly quiet now since not many merchants were willing to take such risks. On the other hand however, there were quite a few mercenaries.

Being a mage allowed Saleen to successfully enter the city. The soldiers waived his tax for entering the city and merely took a glance at his badge. The soldiers at the city gate were all dressed in intricate armour, and held Qin Empire eight-sided swords. Saleen felt grateful at this sight. In comparison, the soldiers in Ceylon City had been piles of dog shit.

Guderian City. Saleen memorized the name. This was likely someone’s name. A city that was named after someone was a common thing in the mainland. This person must have been a hero of his time who had contributed much to the history books.

Saleen did not intend to stay in Guderian. He went straight to the professional union and hired ten mercenaries, even renting a carriage this time. They did not even stop to rest, passing through the city and leaving the border as quickly as they could.

The carriage was big and the price had not been cheap.

Saleen laid on the comfortable chair. Sitting opposite to him were Nailisi and Sika.

"Nailisi, how is your studying of the common language going?"

"Master, I have no time to study." Nailisi held the book Saleen had given her. There were pronunciations scribbled all over it. Sika held onto her cudgel tightly, nearly falling asleep. The carriage was oddly stable and had likely been fitted with some parts made by an alchemist.

"I will give you three months to lean it. If not, you are not to speak in the future." Saleen was not giving her any chances. When they had been fighting the headless riders, Nailisi had been lazy and had almost gotten Sika killed.

"Yes, Master," Nailisi scrunched her face up and replied. Saleen felt a tinge of regret. If only the imp had matured, then he could have used memory magic on her and they would not have needed to expend so much effort. However, it seemed that Nailisi was still far from maturing. Who knew what being imprisoned for tens of thousands of years had done to her?

There was peace within the empire, and after travelling for over two months, the group had not met any bandits. The mercenaries that Saleen had hired were professional and hardly talked to their employer. They were dutiful in protecting the carriage, and even while resting in the big cities, they were fully alert.

In those two months, Saleen had been cautious about everything and had not dared to use the badge to train. The secretive badge could increase his focus; however, he would lose control of his body after using it and Saleen did not dare trust the mercenaries completely. Sika had been nursed back to perfect condition and was getting fidgety from being kept in the carriage all day.

On this day, just as they were waking up, a mercenary knocked on the window of the carriage. He said in a low voice, "Sir, we have reached Bitter Water Prefecture."

Saleen opened the windows. The sun outside was shining brightly, but it was still a little chilly. It was nearing winter, and since this was around the central part of the empire, it was about to snow.

"We are early by nine days. Let’s make it ten," Saleen laughed.

"Thank you, sir." The mercenary was extremely polite.

"Why? Will you not follow us into the city?"

"Nope. It is hard to take up any missions here and we would have to pay taxes to enter. Sir, it is safe from here. We will…"

Saleen knew that these mercenaries had no intentions of entering the Bitter Water Prefecture. He jumped down from the carriage and raised his head. From afar, an old and solemn city loomed ahead.

"My brother, let me ask you something. If I wanted to meet the viscountess, what would I need to do?" Saleen did not want to force the mercenaries to do anything if they did not want to enter the city. It would have been just few minutes ride away anyway.

"You’re a mage. You can just enter."

"Hmm, take this." Saleen took out a check from the Sikeqinya Bank and said, "I have nothing else on me. You can take this."

It was a check for a hundred gold coins. If exchanged in the Qin Empire, it would be worth ninety gold coins. Even though the loss was relatively huge, the two parties had agreed on a price of fifty gold coins and there were an extra forty. Saleen had promised the mercenaries before hiring them that for each day they were early, he would increase the reward by four gold coins. The ten mercenaries had worked for less than three months and could get nine gold coins each. For a low-grade mercenary, it was a fairly sizeable income. Moreover, there was peace within the empire’s borders and an escorting mission such as this one was easiest. Even if there were any secret bandit gangs, they would not have targeted a party like them anyways.

The mercenary gladly accepted the gold coins while Saleen and the others walked towards the city.

This city was strange. Having been built against a mountain, it was a dangerous place. If an assault were to take place, capturing the front would be enough to trap everyone in the city. Of course, it was easier to defend the city, and a quarter of a typical army’s strength would be enough to defend against the enemy’s attack.

What was even stranger was that the castle walls had not been built with bricks. They were vertical and the surfaces were shiny like a mirror, without any cracks to be seen. There were no battlements at the castle top either, being completely flat.

The city gate, however, had been constructed beautifully. The wooden door opened towards the inside and the patterns on the door had been corroded with magic. However, a door like this could be easily smashed apart with a battering ram.

Saleen and the others had walked into the city with their heads held high when a thick arm stopped them from advancing. A thunder-like sound boomed.

"Hey, mage, pay your taxes!"